Universal Field Robots (https://universalfieldrobots.com.au/) recently approached me to assist in the production of some corporate storytelling content across three key areas.
These were:
An updated brand positioning piece about what makes UFR different
A culture/recruitment series as UFR looks to expand their local operations, and
Getting ahead of the game on LinkedIn's promotion of 9x16 (vertical) video
To minimize impact on the business, I scheduled two half-day (4-hour) shoots occurring over two consecutive days.
The first task was to film multi-camera interviews with the Managing Director, Jeff Sterling, and the Head of Sales and Operations, Dush Wimal, as well as some single-camera stand-up interviews with the team. The second task was focused on acquiring b-roll footage of the workshops, tools, gadgets, and everything else on-site to visually tell the story.
In the interviews, Hannah Frankish and I asked questions and coached the talent on giving the best response possible. Part of the skills you learn as a combined Shooter/Editor is to never wish the talent had just said something a little differently. Help them work through a couple of options while you're still filming in the room.
This can be as easy as offering a different turn of phrase to help loosen the talent's mind. Or it could be listening and reshaping their response to be simpler or more concise.
The beauty of using a multi-camera setup in factual storytelling is that it allows you to be really impactful and create or highlight moments like you would in a narrative. It's for that reason I like to try and get a few different options for the delivery of key points.
The UFR Difference video is below:
UFR Team
Engineering is a competitive landscape. Trying to stop "brain drain" and keep the best and the brightest here in Brisbane can be a tough sell when compared to opportunities in Sydney and Melboure. UFR has a secret weapon, though.
Their workplace culture, activities, and "really big robots" really do appeal to the inner geek in all of us. My task was to create an environment where current staff could vocalise and describe their positive thoughts and feelings with confidence.
I did this by having the team answer their questions "in the round". Instead of whisking them away to some alternate room, we conducted the interviews for the UFR Team Culture piece right in the middle of the bullpen. This allowed the UFR team to hear all the positive things their co-workers were saying as well as have a bit of a laugh at each other while doing it.
I kept the shooting ratio tight. We did one take - one run-through - of two questions per person. If they needed a little coaching, I gave it quickly while also praising what they had said. The key was to keep everyone upbeat, uplifted, comfortable, and on track.
The result is below:
Aspect Ratio Matters:
From The UFR Difference and UFR Team Culture I was able to cut between 4-6 short social videos, approximately 15-30 seconds each. I produced these in both 16x9 and 9x16 formats (with the 9x16 being the preferred format right now on many platforms from YouTube to LinkedIn).
I experimented A LOT to try and find the best and most reliable aspect ratio for social content when producing the award winning Welcome to Queens' Land. I tried 9x16, 1x1, 5x4, 8x6 and more. It was a headache.
Recently, though, I've seen the same 9x16 content on the same platform outperform its 16x9 equivalent by 300%. Now a lot of this is due to current platform bias... LinkedIn has become the new Business Facebook... But if you're not extracting key moments or sound bites from your corporate content to provide another opportunity to convey that message to people, you're missing out.
If you've found this informative, entertaining, or anything in between and would like to have a chat about how I can help you tell the story of your business, be sure to get in touch and mention "sasquatch" for a free consultation.
-H-
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